Rand Paul pledges support for Massie against Trump-backed challenger: 'I'm going to help him'

Trump endorsed vocal loyalist and former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein last week after calling for a 2026 challenger to Massie, who continues to pressure the administration to release the remaining files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

Massie has stood up to Trump and bucked his party on other issues, including by voting against the president's spending bill over the summer and affirming that Trump needs congressional approval for a war declaration. Paul, who has also stood up to Trump, voted against the bill in the Senate and has criticized the administration for moving forward with military strikes without authorization from lawmakers.

"Thomas Massie is going to win," Paul told POLITICO. "I'm going to help him. I'm going to be with him every step of the way."

Paul said Massie represents an "independent voice" within the GOP after his repeated splits with the party, but stated that both Massie and himself support Trump's agenda "significantly more" than other Republicans who have sought to remain close allies of the president.

"The people who've gotten close to him who want regime change in Venezuela and want to send more advanced weaponry to Ukraine, those are the interventionists from the interventionist wing of the party who have never been the ones really closely allied," Paul said. "These are the people who have always opposed Donald Trump."

Paul said he and Massie will continue to push for "enumerated powers" as well as "balanced budgets, low taxes and less foreign war."

"It's a warning sign," he said. "'Oppose me or any of my policies, and I'll come after you.' And I don't think that's good for the Republican Party, nor do I think it's good for the country."

The senator said he is also tired of being the Republican Party's "whipping boy," as many of his colleagues always want him "to do their job for them" when they are afraid to tell Trump if his nominees do not have the votes in the upper chamber.

"They say, 'Oh, well, you're not afraid of the president. You go tell him his nominee can't make it,'" Paul said. "So, I'm just tired of always being the whipping boy. I'm tired of [being] the only one that has any guts to stand up and tell the president the truth."

Paul has also been met with Trump's ire in recent months, but continues to hold his ground. Most recently, he has criticized the administration's military strikes on boats it accuses, without evidence, of carrying narco-terrorists.

Earlier this week, Paul revealed that he had not been invited to a White House lunch with other GOP senators over his tiffs with Trump. But Paul said he had a previously scheduled "Liberty Caucus Lunch" with Massie during that time anyway.

Paul also campaigned with Massie last month and said he plans to do it again in the near future.

Massie easily won the GOP primary for his district in 2024, securing 76% of the vote before running unopposed in the general election.